I read somewhere that one of the great hunters used his 8 bore for all his hunting needs......deer,elephant...and so on...

Your information is very much appreciated,Daryl.

I have a good idea of what your talking about,in the sense also that i have seen both rifled and smooth bore 8g rifles for sale.....

So,only later the conical rifles came? and when? about 1870? i have seen cape rifles even in 4 bore with one rifled and one smooth barrel.

What your saying is of great interest to me, as it seems one may find or even create a rifle that works as both a shotgun,for small game and a rifle firing balls,for large game. In retrospect,i see that if one was to add some express sights to an 8 shotty, then one would have a very versatile and enjoyable firearm. BP of course,as i cannot see how one could do such things with a nitro version......though to be honest,i may never have seen a smokeless 8 or 4 gauge....shotgun,that is.

Am i correct in the above thoughts,or not?

The .577's are a genuine big game rifle,but of course do not have the horse power as it were,nor this versatility we can see with a smoothbore.

Are these smoothbore rifles not called paradox rifles? Testing my memory here......

Ben